No, but don't kid yourself, the rate of firearms ownership in Canada is just
as great as the USA (overall). And that is a fact ! However, the big
difference up here is that firearms are kept and used for a multitude of
legitimate purposes; however, self defence is NOT one of them!! Also
speaking as a Canadian, I too am thankful that (so far) our culture doesn't
instill the fear level that drives people in the US to keep firearms for
self defence. In addition, the rate of ownership of "restricted firearms"
such as handguns is no where near as great as in the US....we have about 1
million handguns in our country (legal ones that is...no one knows how many
illegal ones come in...), and the remainder are sporting long guns such as
rifles and shotguns. We do have good laws that mandate safe ownership and
storage left over from the next to last revision of the Criminal Code. But I
certainly don't rest easier in any fashion whether my neighbour owns a gun
or not ! That has little to do with anything !

However, since the latest shooting massacre in Montreal and the resulting
latest changes, we now are blessed with some of the most atrocious new gun
laws that exist anywhere; they boggle the mind with their complexity and the
resultant inability to follow them legally even if you want to (speaking
from much personal experience..). And having gone up to a billion dollars in
program costs (and still climbing), one has to ask whether this is the best
expenditure of that much money (and that goes whether you are a gun hater or
a gun lover frankly...)

If you are a criminologist, you know the issue is much more complicated than
mere availability; a lot of it is mired in social and cultural issues
stemming back to the history of the development of each country.

R.H.Campbell
Home Security Metal Products
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
www.homemetal.com

"George Wenzel" wrote in message
. ..

Hey, if you want to have a gun and consider it "protection", that's your
choice. I'd much rather live in a neighbourhood where I know that none
of my neighbours have guns, and where I find it a pleasant surprise if
one of my neighbours unexpectedly comes over to say hello once in a
while. Of course, I'm Canadian, and I live in a country that thankfully
doesn't have the culture of fear of our southern neighbours.

Regards,

George Wenzel

George Wenzel, B.A. (Criminology)
E-mail: lid
E-mail address is munged. Instead of dot invalid, use dot net